Oh dont know what to do

[gillrogers]

Blood sugars been 15 all afternoon after some unexpected stress anf sleepless night, dispite raising my basal.

Have no idea about having dinner. 2 unit correction dose plus my meal. Do i makey meal a light one?

Not been this high for a meal since i didnt know i was diabetic.

 

[rebrascora]

Why not inject an appropriate correction now so that it is working whilst you get dinner ready and then cook yourself a substantial meal and just bolus for the meal before you eat it. That is what I would do assuming there was no bolus insulin left in my system to bring me down from lunchtime.

My thoughts are that you are fiddling with your basal too much, as well as worrying about your ratios and correction factors and you are see-sawing.
I almost never adjust my daytime and night time basal in the same 24hour period because one does have a slight knock on effect to the other, so if I reduce my night time basal because I have done a lot of exercise the day before, I don't then reduce my daytime dose as well the following morning, because the reduction in overlap from the night time dose into the daytime dose is enough. My gut feeling is that you have got yourself into a situation where you are chasing the dragon's tail and you are one step behind all the time as a result. Ie whatever you do, things swing back the other way before they settle down. You must be incredibly frustrated and I can totally understand that because I was like that when I trialed Fiasp for 3 months, twice and it was only when I got so frustrated that it overcame my fear of the insulin, that I made the break through. Unfortunately I can't really help you get to that point, but I can sympathize! It is horrible!

 

[gillrogers]

Thanks Barbera, that had crossed my mind actually to do. It did the trick!! Post meal is coming down nicely now. Not stressed tonight either. Last night the Mother in law who has dementia rang me to say did i know my husband was in hospital, just as i was dishing my dinner. No i didnt then i just went wosh! She tracks him on his mobile at work using apple maps. It helps to stop her worrying about him. Hes a lorry driver. Turned out she had seem him he stopped at a hospital and was there for ages. So i rang him and he wouldnt pick up. So i got worried too. Gad my dinner and an hour later he finalky rang back. Omg i felt a right tit! Turned out the hospital wasnt there anymore, apple maps where out of date and it was posh houses he was delivering to with posh furniture!

 

[rebrascora]

Pleased you had a successful meal and are feeling a bit less wound up. Well done!

Technology is a wonderful thing but a bit of a double edged sword sometimes. Sorry to hear you had such a scary time due to it's misinformation last night. Really not what you need! Very pleased all well though in the end. Phew!

 

[gillrogers]

Pleased you had a successful meal and are feeling a bit less wound up. Well done!

Technology is a wonderful thing but a bit of a double edged sword sometimes. Sorry to hear you had such a scary time due to it's misinformation last night. Really not what you need! Very pleased all well though in the end. Phew!

That trick really made the difference. Dont think ill need to do it all the time but now i know how to get me out of that sticky situation again. Today seems to be working so far so touch wood ive caught my basal back up. I do find it tricky with my basal doses being so low.
I now I fiddle with my basal but being on such a low dose the changes in line with advice can be either too much or too little depending which way ive got to go so i end up lagging behind or getting ahead. Hence the changes in my evening meal bolus doses. Its a darn minefield. ‍

 

[Tdm]

I am on 2 unit basal and its a pain in the neck...no chance to adjust

 

[gillrogers]

I am on 2 unit basal and its a pain in the neck...no chance to adjust

Im beginning to understand that from the mess i got myself into this week.

 

[Tdm]

I did ask for a half unit basal pen but wasn't an option with abasaglar

 

[Inka]

I did ask for a half unit basal pen but wasn't an option with abasaglar

Why don’t you ask to be swapped to Lantus (the original glargine insulin - Abasaglar is a bio-similar)? You can then get a JuniorStar re-useable pen that does half units. You won’t believe the difference it makes, both practically and emotionally. Much more flexibility, much less hassle.

(Apologies if I’ve said this to you before. I know I mentioned the JuniorStar pen recently but can’t remember who to)

 

[Tdm]

No, it wasn't me. That sounds like a good idea...not sure why my doc didn't suggest that, i did ask about a half unit basal insulin but i think the consensus was you could get them but for 12 hr insulin which you'd take half of anyway so no advantage...i will ask, because whilst i have been on 2 units for 2 years that may well change, and i sometimes go through times when my overnight level goes gradually down

 

[Inka]

You can get half unit pens for most basals, I think @Tdm Even if you were on twice daily insulin, a half unit pen would still be an advantage because you might find you needed 1 and 1/2 units in the morning and only 1/2 a unit at night, or you might be on 1 unit at night and want to try a small increase of half a unit, etc.

 

[Tdm]

Mmm...i think my doc may have fobbed me off, then. They definitely gave me the impression it wasn't possible

 

[rebrascora]

Mmm...i think my doc may have fobbed me off, then. They definitely gave me the impression it wasn't possible

When you say "doc" I am wondering if you mean GP or consultant? I would not expect a GP to know that Lantus has a half unit pen but Abasaglar doesn't, whereas a consultant should. And surely any consultant worth their salt should realise that when you are working with such tiny doses a half unit pen is extremely helpful. I am on quite a lot of basal insulin but I need very little at night and my half unit pen often comes in really useful then even though by total basal is something like 22 units. Having that fine adjustment is as @Inka says, is also mentally beneficial, as it can be scary increasing doses or you are not sure between 3 units or 2 and just being able to split the difference is incredibly helpful in making that decision easier.

 

[Inka]

Mmm...i think my doc may have fobbed me off, then. They definitely gave me the impression it wasn't possible

The ‘diabetes expert’ nurse at my GP surgery told me that the half unit pen I asked for didn’t exist. I said it did and that my hospital DSN had confirmed it. The ‘expert’ nurse still insisted there was no such thing and even showed me her search of the list of prescribable items in her computer. There was no point in arguing with her.

So, I went away, googled the PIP number or whatever it’s called and then emailed her. She hadn’t found it on her list because she googled the wrong name and wasn’t properly looking because she ‘knew’ it didn’t exist 🙄

Unless you have a very rare GP surgery, assume they know very little about Type 1 and be particularly wary of any ‘diabetes expert’ nurses!

Another thing occurred to me @Tdm - you might just prefer to swap to a twice daily insulin anyway and do that and then get the appropriate pen all in one go.You could then adjust your day and night doses separately. With a once daily, you’re stuck because you can’t increase your daytime cover without affecting your night, and vice versa. The extra injection is nothing and the improved flexibility is great. Moreover, if you’re only on small doses of insulin, splitting the dose can reduce the risk of hypos and focus the basal insulin better.